Some Republicans criticize judge pick

With Democrats scrambling to find enough votes to pass health care reform, Republicans are looking for the next legislative deal to attack and have trained their sights on President Barack Obama's nomination of Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson's brother for a federal judgeship.

Republicans gleefully circulated a Weekly Standard piece yesterday that asked if Obama was trying to buy Matheson's vote by nominating his brother, Scott, to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Both the White House and Matheson's office swiftly answered the question with a resounding 'no.' And both Republican senators from Matheson’s home state of Utah support the nomination.

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Still, that didn’t stop Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann from raising the issue on "Larry King Live" last night, calling for an “independent investigation” into the matter.

But Rep. Matheson's spokeswoman, Alyson Heyrend, called the question “patently ridiculous,” saying there was no deal made between her boss and the president that guaranteed Scott Matheson's nomination in exchange for Rep. Matheson’s vote in favor of health care reform. (Matheson opposed the House bill and is undecided on the president’s plan.)

"Can you spell NO?" Heyrend asked.

A White House official called the question “absurd.”

"Scott Matheson is a leading law scholar and has served as a law school dean and U.S. attorney. He’s respected across Utah and eminently qualified to serve on the federal bench,” the official said.

The official said that Scott Matheson was nominated with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's support. Indeed, Hatch put out a statement hailing Obama's selection of the Utahan calling Matheson “a bright attorney whose experience has prepared him for judicial service.”

And fellow Republican Utah Sen. Bob Bennett also rejected the notion that Obama was using Scott Matheson’s nomination as leverage.

“Sen. Bennett has heard of all kinds of pressure being applied and offers being made to Democrats for votes on health care, but Scott Matheson’s nomination is not one of those because it has been in the works for a long time,” spokeswoman Tara DiJulio said.

And with that, it appears Utah’s two Republican senators cut the legs out from under the shady-deal meme Republicans like Bachmann were hoping to build.

None of that stopped Bachmann from calling the matter “a big question that has to be addressed right now."

“What in the world is going on in the White House?” she said on CNN. “Because today, the president offered a judgeship to the brother of a member of Congress. Tonight, the president has that same member of Congress at the White House pressuring him to change his vote on health care. We really need to have an independent investigation into this matter, because we've seen the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the union loophole and now the big question is, is the White House trading health care votes for judgeships?”

As pressure mounts on Democrats to pass reform, look for Republicans to pounce on anything that looks like a backroom deal because those previous deals were key to helping sour the public on reform.